


Missing Piece

by captshirogane



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Implied Shance, M/M, Pining, Pre-Kerberos Mission, SHEITH - Freeform, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9553124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captshirogane/pseuds/captshirogane
Summary: Lance just can't wrap his head around the mystery that is the relationship between Shiro and Keith and why their friendship, or whatever he should call their relationship, seems unbreakable.





	

I’m missing something.

No, I don’t mean, I’m missing a pair of keys or something stupid like that, because I’m actually _not_ the careless type; I mean that I’m missing something that’s going on between two of the Garrison’s Golden Boys, Shiro and Keith, and I just can’t wrap my head around what that thing I’m missing is. I know that they’re close buds and all; everyone in the Garrison knows of their inseparable friendship, but what nobody knows is how they got to that point. No one knows what has made them so damn loyal to each other because as far as dynamics goes, the two are complete opposites.

Shiro is the top student in the entire school — in a league entirely on his own when it comes to pretty much everything. He even is going to be the pilot of the Kerberos mission coming up in a few months which is pretty much the biggest thing to happen in this school.

He has qualities that every person wishes they had: an extraordinary amount of patience with other people; a charismatic allure, too, everyone wants to be around him and to get to know him; he’s well-rounded in terms of intelligence — emotionally, intellectually, exceptionally skilled, as well as street smart, — and he’s extremely good-looking, even someone such as I, who is equally as good-looking, if not more so, would have to admit. Overall, he’s…pretty amazing, and he’s someone I’ve always looked up to, even though he probably doesn’t even know I exist because we’re on two entirely different planes of existence. He’s part of the reason why I work so hard to get to where I am. My performance at the Garrison is nothing to scoff at, either — I’m second in my class. Yeah, second best probably isn’t something to be proud of, and I get that, but the one person getting in the way from me getting to the top is…yeah, you guessed it: Keith himself.

 _He_ is honestly my arch-nemesis. Not that I believe he knows I exist, either, because he spends pretty much all of his time with Shiro and the third Golden Boy of the Garrison, Matthew Holt (who would be joining Shiro on the Kerberos mission, as a matter of fact), and has somewhat of an independent, lone-wolf personality, but he’s in the way of me finally getting the chance to get Shiro to notice me.

Yeah, I know; it’s pathetic of me to admit that. I want Shiro to notice me, but as I mentioned, we’re on two completely different planes of existence here at the Garrison; there are cliques everywhere, and the only person I became friends with during my time here is with a guy named Hunk, who is an accomplished engineer and chef, and in general, a pretty cool guy to hang out with; no one really pays any mind to either of us, though, despite our own accomplishments. People kind of see us as jokes, and it’s pretty demoralizing when we worked so hard to get here and to stay where we are in terms of scores. The Garrison is as competitive as the Ivy League universities, and that tells you something about how prestigious this place is.

Digressing!

Keith is the exact opposite of Shiro. Without Shiro there to keep him in check, he can be pretty defiant toward other instructors, and not to mention, he’s _really_ reckless. He tends to act on his impulses, and it has gotten him into detention several times before Shiro walked right into his life. I still don’t know how it happened, but Shiro managed to control Keith almost effortlessly, and the whole school is just as baffled by it. They must also have their suspicions as to what may be going on between them, some act almost as if they are certain that their own suspicions as to what’s going on between them is correct, but I never bothered to ask others — mostly because they’re going to brush me off. Who wants to give the second best in the class the time of day? Everyone wants to be with the absolute best — and the absolute best in my class was Keith. It drives me crazy, because being second best in the school is all I’m going to know — the whole school keeps reminding me that I’m nothing more than second best.

And it. Freaking. Sucks.

Shiro and Keith. What _is_ it between the two of them? What’s made them get so close to one another? I want to know! It’s none of my business, but I want to know! I may not be the careless type, but I sure as hell am the nosy type! One of these days, I’m probably going to give in and just butt into a conversation between them and ask them what the _hell_ it is between those two. I want to know their secret; _everyone_ in the Garrison can see their bond is something that’s going to transcend time and distance, which is necessary because in a few months, Shiro’s going to be flying off to outer space, all the way to one of Pluto’s moons, so they’re going to _need_ a bond that strong in order for their friendship to stay strong.

Wait. Friendship. That’s all I’ve been calling it throughout this entire thing. It _has_ to be something beyond a friendship; if I recall, there are several different kinds of love: **agape** , the unconditional love that sees beyond the outer surface, the kind of love where the two would accept the other for who they are, regardless of their flaws, shortcomings, or faults; **phileo** , which is the term for warm, tender, affectionate, platonic kind of love, which can’t be what it is between Shiro and Keith because there’s definitely something more between them — phileo doesn’t go beyond friendship; **storge** , a familial bond, which can be a possibility for what they feel toward the other; finally, there’s **eros** , which is the passionate, romantic kind of love — the kind of love you feel toward your significant other…which…is definitely another possibility between the two…but I just refuse to believe it.

There’s _no way_ Shiro and Keith are romantically involved. That just would have come _completely_ out of nowhere, and if they’re romantically involved, then that means there’s no way Shiro is ever going to notice me regardless of how well I do in class. (I’m speaking as if that’s the only way I can get him to notice me. Well, to be fair, it’s the only way I know how to get him to notice me…)

This is starting to get on my nerves. I really must be missing something between the two, and I hate being the only one who’s left out of something like this. I feel like everyone else must have an idea of what’s going on between them _except for me_.

“Lance?” Hunk’s voice rips me out from being lost in thought, and I look up from my plate of uneaten mush — which is what’s meant to be mashed potatoes or cheesy grits, I never could tell; they really need to do something about the terrible food here — to meet the eyes of my concerned friend who’s sitting across from me. “You kinda zoned out there.”

“Sorry,” I mutter, sinking lower into my seat. “Just have a lot on my mind.”

“— Need to talk about it? You haven’t even touched your food.”

I side-eye the table where Shiro, Keith, and Matt are sitting at. It’s all the way across the cafeteria from where we’re sitting, and the three are happily chatting it up with each other. Shiro seems to be the one who’s keeping the conversation alive. He’s always been a damn good conversationalist, from what I can tell.

“Do you have any idea what might have made Keith and Shiro to get so close? I just can’t figure it out.”

Hunk raises an eyebrow at the question — it probably must have been odd to him for me to bring it up, but it’s honestly something that’s been on my mind throughout the entire lunch period. Actually, probably for the whole day.

“You really don’t know what’s going on between those two? It’s literally been in our faces the entire time.”

“You know what’s going on between them?” I ask, my interest piqued; I fix my posture in my seat and lean in over the table, my eyes narrowing into slits. “What is it between those two?”

“Because they’re _into_ each other, Lance,” Hunk responds casually. “They’ve been into each other the moment they laid eyes on each other, or at least that’s what most of the Garrison has been thinking. Not that it’s been confirmed, but by the way they act around each other, someone can assume that they’re dating.”

There’s no way. I’m still not convinced. Shiro and Keith are _together_ and they have been _all of this time_? There goes my chance at ever getting Shiro’s attention if all he’s paying attention to is Keith. Poor Matthew, he must feel like the third wheel the majority of the time if he’s always the one witnessing them act all lovey-dovey and romantic toward each other during the times they hang out outside of campus. Those three can get away with most things. Iverson and the other instructors love the hell out of them and let them off most of the time.

“Lance, are you okay, buddy?”

“I’m just not hungry,” I reply, leaning back into my chair again. I stare at Hunk pointedly. “We have to get to class in a few minutes anyway.”

Which is hardly enough time to process this new revelation I now have about Shiro and Keith.

Regardless, I have to keep moving, and keep working harder. Sooner or later, Shiro is going to lose interest in Keith, or Keith is going to lose interest in Shiro, and then I was going to have my chance to get Shiro to realize who the _real_ hot shot of the Garrison is.


End file.
